wouldn't be suspicious in such a small town, with her father a public figure...
"How old are you, Bella?" She must be older than her peers. Perhaps she'd been late to start school, or
been held back...that wasn't likely, though.
"I'm seventeen," she answered.
"You don't seem seventeen."
She laughed.
"What?"
"My mom always says I was born thirty-five years old and that I get more middle-aged every year." She
laughed again, and then sighed. "Well, someone has to be the adult."
This clarified things for me. I could see it now...how the irresponsible mother helped explain Bella's
maturity. She'd had to grow up early, to become the caretaker. That's why she didn't like being cared
for-she felt it was her job.
"You don't seem much like a junior in high school yourself," she said, pulling me from my reverie.
I grimaced. For everything I perceived about her, she perceived too much in return. I changed the
subject. "So why did your mother marry Phil?"
She hesitated a minute before answering. "My mother...she's very young for her age. I think Phil makes
her feel even younger. At any rate, she's crazy about him." She shook her head indulgently.
"Do you approve?" I wondered.
"Does it matter?" she asked. "I want her to be happy...and he is who she wants." The unselfishness of
her comment would have shocked me, except that it fit in all too well with what I'd learned of her
character.
"That's very generous...I wonder."
"What?"
"Would she extend the same courtesy to you, do you think? No matter who your choice was?"
It was a foolish question, and I could not keep my voice casual while I asked it. How stupid to even
consider someone approving of me for their daughter. How stupid to even think of Bella choosing me.
"I-I think so," she stuttered, reacting in some way to my gaze. Fear...or attraction? "But she's the parent,
after all. It's a little bit different," she finished.
I smiled wryly. "No one too scary then."
She grinned at me. "What do you mean by scary? Multiple facial piercings and extensive tattoos?"
"That's one definition, I suppose." A very nonthreatening definition, to my mind.
"What's your definition?"
She always asked the wrong questions. Or exactly the right questions, maybe. The ones I didn't want to
answer, at any rate.
"Do you think that I could be scary?" I asked her, trying to smile a little.
She thought it through before answering me in a serious voice. "Hmm...I think you could be, if you
wanted to."
I was serious, too. "Are you frightened of me now?"
She answered at once, not thinking this one through. "No."
I smiled more easily. I did not think she was entirely telling the truth, but nor was she truly lying. She
wasn't frightened enough to want to leave, at least. I wondered how she would feel if I told her she was
having this discussion with a vampire. I cringed internally at her imagined reaction.
"So, now are you going to tell me about your family? It's got to be a much more interesting story than
mine."
A more frightening one, at least. "What do you want to know?" I asked cautiously.
"The Cullens adopted you?"
"Yes."
She hesitated, then spoke in a small voice. "What happened to your parents?"
This wasn't so hard; I wasn't even having to lie to her. "They died a very long time ago."
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, clearly worried about having hurt me.
She was worried about me.
"I don't really remember them that clearly," I assured her. "Carlisle and Esme have been my parents for
a long time now."
"And you love them," she deduced.
I smiled. "Yes. I couldn't imagine two better people."
"You're very lucky."
"I know I am." In that one circumstance, the matter of parents, my luck could not be denied.
"And your brother and sisters?"
If I let her push for too many details, I would have to lie. I glanced at the clock, disheartened that my
time with her was up.
"My brother and sister, and Jasper and Rosalie for that matter, are going to be quite upset if they have
to stand in the rain waiting for me."
"Oh, sorry, I guess you have to go." She didn't move. She didn't want our time to be up, either. I liked
that very, very much.
"And you probably want your truck back before Chief Swan gets home, so you don't have to tell him
about the Biology incident." I grinned at the memory of her embarrassment in my arms.
"I'm sure he's already heard. There are no secrets in Forks." She said the name of the town with distinct
distaste.
I laughed at her words. No secrets, indeed. "Have fun at the beach." I glanced at the pouring rain,